May 11 Bible Bite: The Hard Work of Faith

In dismay, they find themselves encamped by the sea, shut in on three sides.

Faintly in the background, they hear the shouts of Pharaoh’s armies. They see the puffs of dust getting ever thicker.

Panic arises in the heart—and escapes from the lips.

“Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (Ex. 14:11-12)

In moments like this our words betray what we really believe.

When they realize there is no way out, Moses tells them to do one thing:

Believe in faith—and do nothing.

“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (Ex. 14:13-14, emphasis mine)

Really?

Our natural human tendency when it is impossible to save ourselves is to get to work. I plot, plan and scheme to find a way to escape.

Believing and trusting? These are the last things I do.

But it is not just Moses who says this.

When the Philippian jailer asked Paul, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” he answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:30-31)

Then in Eph. 2:8 tells us “by grace you have been saved through faith.”

If this is how God saves us from the greatest enemy of all—sin and death—how will He not also save us from our ordinary smaller crises?

Sometimes no work—waiting—is the hardest work to do.

It is the work of quieting the heart to focus on Christ instead of our situation.

It is learning to fix our gaze on the author and perfecter when we are tempted to look elsewhere for relief.